The Truth in the Tea Leaves
by EmeraldFire512
Summary: The night after the battle Ron is remembering times gone by and recalls one prediction made by his best friend in their first Divination class. Friendship fluff and goodness - not slash. A one-shot look at their bond and history together. Canon!


A/N: This fic is something I wrote when I was over in Spain for the semester. It was written after I discovered the song "Aristotle & Averroes" by Kareem Salama, a beautiful song that made me really start to miss my best friend. It is part of a series, all inspired by that song and my very brief spell of homesickness. All of these stories focus on my favorite friendships in all of the stories I read and shows that I watch. This particular story focuses on Harry and Ron from Harry Potter. I always find Ron to be a very underrated, underappreciated, and underestimated character. I think he is great; brave, smart in his own way, and most importantly – a great friend for the hero of the series. Harry wouldn't get through half of what he does without Ron by his side to watch his back, give him a shoulder to lean on, to act as a sounding board for ideas, be the friend he needs to listen, give him a few laughs, and follow him into anything; no questions asked.

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><p><em>"<em>_Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross…" He consulted Unfogging the Future. "That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' — sorry about that — but there's a thing that could be the sun. Hang on… that means 'great happiness'… so you're going to suffer but be very happy…"_

_"__You need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me," said Ron _

– _Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter Four_

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><p>The circular room was silent except for the snores of three young men hidden behind scarlet curtains. There were two remaining beds however with a conspicuous lack of sound coming from them. Each of the respective occupants were lying still, simply contemplating the current situation, reflecting on loss, and remembering their lives.<p>

Suddenly, the young man in the bed on the right called to the other in a soft but carrying whisper,

"Harry? You awake?"

There was a slight sound from the other bed as its occupant shifted to face the curtains between himself and his friend, "Yeah, what's up?"

"I was just thinking about…well, everything, ya know?"

Harry nodded before he realized Ron couldn't see him. He sat up and pulled back the curtains, Ron following suit as soon as he heard the sound of the curtains opening. Once they were each settled on the edge of their respective beds Harry answered once again, "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Being here at Hogwarts – back in our dorm – I can't help but think about it."

Ron nodded, before continuing on with his original train of thought, "As strange as it may sound, I was reflecting back to our first divination lesson, you know – the one where we read tea leaves?"

Even in the faint moonlight coming through the window between their beds Ron could see Harry roll his eyes, "How could I forget? It was our first introduction to the batty professor he kept predicting my death." Harry paused to snort in annoyance before continuing curiously, "why would you remember that though?"

"Well, I was thinking about when you first attempted to read my tea leaves. You said, 'that I would suffer, but be happy about it.'"

"Our first clue that the class was rubbish."

Ron shrugged, "Maybe. But why I thought of it though is that you were right."

At this Harry turned his gaze away from the window to look at him sharply. "What do you mean?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

"I mean that you were right. I've certainly suffered – we all have. We've been through so much, lost so many people," he paused to take a deep breath, fighting off the tears he was sure were trying to rise, "and nothing will ever be the same again. But despite all of that – I'm happy. Right now here we are, back in our old dorm, back with family and friends, and the world is safe tonight. Voldemort is dead, and you're alive. We both are. Sure we lost people, I don't think that anyone in the family is ever going to fully get over loosing Fred just as much as Remus and Tonks will always be remembered, but as sad as I know I should be – and I certainly am somewhere – I'm happy. You, me, and Hermione all made it through this, and we won! Neville, Luna, Ginny, the rest of my family are all still here to enjoy it. People like Dean don't have to run anymore; families can be reunited. We can finally, maybe, have a calm year. We did it!" he broke off with a huge grin, beaming at Harry who chuckled but raised an eyebrow,

"I suppose the fact that you and Hermione finally snogged doesn't hurt either?"

Ron felt his eyes grow slightly red, "yeah, there's that bit too," he admitted.

Harry returned his grin before replying, "I understand, I feel the same way. The euphoria is really only starting to hit now – there was too much grief before. But you're right – we did it!" he paused for a moment before continuing on in a much more somber tone, "I never actually thought I would be able to feel this after it was all done. I think a part of me always doubted that I was actually going to survive to see the victory."

Ron nodded, "I know, I was always prepping myself for that. I knew that the odds weren't good, but we beat them mate! You, me, and Hermione – we all beat the odds!"

There was silence for several moments, only broken by the light snores coming from Neville's bed before Ron spoke once again,

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you really die tonight?"

There was silence once more as Harry seemed to ponder his answer:

"Yes."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Ron as he looked at best friend with wide eyes, and Harry looks down at his bed spread, tracing the red threads in the simple woven pattern. He didn't look up until he felt a pressure on the bed besides him and looked over to see Ron sitting beside him.

"I'm sorry mate," he started, "but I couldn't help it. When I saw your body…it felt like my world was caving in on me. Like nothing was real anymore. All of the noise and commotion around me faded out and all I could see was your body in Hagrid's arms. My mind kept telling me that it wasn't true, because you couldn't be dead. But that was all that I could see was your body, even when I closed my eyes. At that point I was more determined to fight to the death against Voldemort if that's what it took. Partially for revenge, partially because I knew that way, I wouldn't have to face the world without you."

Harry finally looked his friend full in the face to see his blue eyes moist once again. In all his years of knowing Ron, he had only seen him cry three times, and two of them had been tonight. But something that Ron had let slip was bothering him,

"Ron, did you mean what you said, that you were willing to die fighting because I was dead?" Hearing him say that had made his blood feel cold for a moment. He couldn't imagine Ron dying.

"I was willing to die fighting from the very beginning," Ron reminded him, "but yeah, after I saw your body, I was more determined."

"But, why? You still had Hermione and your family."

"Partially for revenge I think. I couldn't believe that after all we had done, all we had been through, you were just _dead._ It didn't make any sense, and it certainly wasn't fair. You dying after all you had been through wasn't right. You deserved better. You deserved to have a life after Voldemort. So when I saw you dead, I was angry. Yes, I would have fought to the death. I know that there was still Hermione and my family, but without you – nothing would be the same. I may love Hermione, but you will always be my best friend. Besides, at that point no one was safe yet. We were all going to fight, because you are a member of our family. All of my brothers see you as their brother, my parents see you as another son. What Ginny sees you as I would rather not think about, but she was definitely hurt, almost as much as Hermione and I, when we saw your body. Of course I was going to fight to the death, by entire family was going to. To lose Fred was horrible, but to lose you as well was too much."

Harry simply looked at Ron as he finished his tirade, his mouth slightly agape. He had always known that he and Ron were close, but to hear it spelled out so plainly had shocked him.

Ron seemed to notice his shock because rolled his eyes and laughed, "Honestly mate, you'd think you'd never had anyone tell you that you were their friend before. Frankly I think I'm a little hurt – seven years and you never realized?"

Harry grinned at this before replying, "No I knew, I just…didn't know. It's one thing to know you have friends, but another to see how much they care. I heard you when Hagrid carried me out to the grounds. I heard you, Hermione, Ginny, everyone. I was slightly shocked, but more than anything, it hurt. It hurt because I didn't want anyone to go through that kind of pain, especially for me."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ron broke the silence with a yawn and a glance at his watch. "Blimey Harry, how the bloody hell are we still awake? We have been awake for more than two days now. That has got to be some kind of record."

Harry shrugged but suddenly felt his eyelids attempting to droop, "Maybe, but all I care about right now the record for sleeping, I think I could break it. But first things first," he said, giving Ron a slight shove, "get your arse off of my bed, I'm not sharing and you look you are going to fall asleep any moment now."

Ron rolled his eyes again, though the effect was rather ruined by another great yawn as he slid of the bed and took the few steps needed to reach his. As Ron climbed into his bed Harry got settled into him. He was just about to let sleep over take him when something else came to mind.

"Ron?" he whispered.

"Yeah?" came the muffled reply.

"Just promise me one thing."

"Anything, so long as I can take care of it after I sleep."

"Never insinuate that I have any talent for divination ever again."

Ron chuckled sleepily before replying, "Not a chance mate."

With that he rolled over to sleep, still chuckling. Harry smiled and drifted asleep to the sound of his best friend's soft laughter. Maybe Ron was right, he conceded in his head, maybe there is _some_ validity in divination after all. Because after all he had suffered, he was happy after all.

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><p>Ta-da! Hope you all liked it, I know I did :) Keep an eye on my author's page; there is plenty more to come - both Potter and otherwise.<p> 


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